Away From the Sun
by Liesel Meminger
Summary: Sequel to "See the Sun". Almost one year later, Heather is back. What impact does she have on the lives of Clarisse and Joseph?
1. 1 Prologue

Disclaimer: Meg Cabot and Disney own all of them. Heather is mine, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Summary: Almost one year later, Heather is back. What impact does she have on the lives of Clarisse and Joseph?

A.N.: I wasn't going to do this. I told myself I wouldn't. But it seems nowadays you can't even trust yourself. So here it is, a sequel to See the Sun. P.S.: If you don't like it, blame it on Ursa. She made me do it. But if you do like it… Leave a review (: Just one more thing before I go… The devil is back, uh-oh.

Chapter 1 - Prologue

"Could you turn it up a bit, please?" She asked the bartender, and he, obviously irritated, slammed the remote control for the little TV on the counter in front of the woman. She gave him an icy stare and turned the volume up.

"Listen, lady, you've been here for two hours already, and…" He tiredly began, but she interrupted.

"Shush, darling" She said, bringing one finger to rest on her carefully painted lips.

The bartender, Pete, huffed. He had been up on his feet since four o'clock that morning, so why couldn't that woman give him a break and go home so he could finally, finally close up the pub? It had been a slow day –incredibly slow- and he had forgotten to bring a book with him, or anything else, to distract him. Next time, he promised himself, next time he would not forget the Agatha Christie book he was currently reading.

"Let's now go to the Royal Palace with our reporter Harry Sullivan. Sullivan, what have you got for us?" The news anchor on TV said, and as Pete turned his attention to the screen, a man started talking in front of the Genovia Palace.

"Thank you. What I have here, Edwards, are exclusive news yet to be reported by anyone else: Her Majesty Clarisse Renaldi was involved in a car accident last night"

"How did that happen, Sullivan?" News anchor and reporter now shared the TV, side by side on screen, opposite sides of the country.

"The information that we received, and I'm pleased to say it comes from a highly trustable source, is that the Queen was going to the Winter Castle last night, and the car she was in got caught in a storm, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle, and crashing onto a tree."

"Who was driving, and more important, what is Her Majesty's condition?"

"Inside the vehicle were only Her Majesty and her bodyguard, Mr. Joseph Bonnell, who was on the wheel. The Queen has broken her left arm and suffered other minor injuries. Mr. Bonnell's condition is more critical. He underwent two surgeries during the last twelve hours, one of them being on his spine, and the doctors say there's 70% possibility of the damages being permanent, leaving the Castle's Head of Security paraplegic."

"What more have you gathered, Sullivan?"

"They are both still in the hospital, Edwards, but in Her Majesty's case, only for standard procedure. The doctors have yet to make an official health bulletin, as well as the Palace staff, who had not made any official announcements. Last night, around eight o'clock, merely half an hour after the accident, the Queen's personal assistant, Miss Charlotte Marshall, and Her Highness, Princess Amelia Renaldi, were both seen arriving at the hospital, very shaken up. Early this morning, the Prime Minister has also showed up to make his support known. None of them have left since."

"Thank you, Sullivan"

"Anytime, Edwards, and we will be back as soon as we have more information about Her Majesty Clarisse Renaldi."

"Those were some shocking news, Genovia" The anchor said, using a more casual tone "I am sure this will be the only topic in conversations during the next few days."

Pete couldn't blink. His Queen had been hurt? He had spent most of his life adoring her, having her as the personification of beauty and grace; she was too perfect to go through something as humanly as a car accident.

On the other side of the bar counter, the woman Pete had come to find dreadful, turned off the TV with a smug smile glued to her face.

"Well, well, well. It came sooner that I thought it would" She all but sang it.

"What came?" Pete asked, absent-mindedly, too used to the cries of drunken costumers to pay any real attention.

"The time to get back on their lives" She got up from the bar stool she had been sitting on and left, without any other word.

Behind she left Pete, good old Pete, not relieved as he thought he would be when she left, but depressed and deeply hurt by the news he had just heard. And he had thought that morning, when he woke up, that this was going to be just another day in his life as a bartender.

_TBC_


	2. 2 When It's Over

Chapter 2 – When It's Over

She lay in the hospital bed, surrounded by people she could not see. She had tubes going out of every spot in her body, or so it seemed, and the beep of the machines rang mercilessly in her ears. She slowly opened her eyes, regretting it immediately: thousands of strange eyes, or at least that's what it looked like, watched her closely. She did a quick search around the room, her brain not really focusing on anyone, but the owner of those friendly brown eyes who was the only one able to comfort her wasn't there. She panicked; without him, she was alone, no matter how many people there were in that room.

"Joseph…" she whispered, reaching for the closest person "Bring me Joseph"

"Your Majesty, he's…" a familiar female voice answered

"Charlotte? Joseph, where is he?" she managed, but was too weak to continue.

"Clarisse" said Charlotte softly

"Please. I need to see him" she had never begged in her life. She had never needed to.

"He is in the room next door, Your Majesty" she heard the Prime Minister saying, but he sounded too far away for her to care.

"Bring him here" she struggled to say. It hurt too much to speak.

"That's not possible, Grandma" Mia was there too, Clarisse thought. How many people were there?

"Oh, God" to talk seemed to get more tiring with each second "Why?"

"He is… We can't bring him here"

"Then get me there. I want to see him"

"How…" Charlotte began, but Clarisse cut her off, angrily.

"Find a way. That's what you get paid for"

She closed her eyes, since keeping them open required an amount of strength she couldn't find within herself at the moment. She knew she had probably been too harsh with Charlotte, but didn't apologize. She was too tired, but didn't fall asleep either; how could she? She had to make sure he was safe. She heard the door opening, and Charlotte talking to someone in hushed tones.

"Your Majesty?" she asked

"Yes?" Clarisse managed.

"We will get you in a wheelchair so we can go to his room. Are you sure you can do it?"

She didn't answer, but Charlotte didn't need any confirmation. It was Joseph they were talking about.

"I still think you need more rest, Grandma"

Clarisse laughed tiredly, but it came out more like a grunt, while trying to suppress a childish answer. She resisted the urge to scream in pain when she was brought to a sitting position helped by Charlotte and a nurse.

The trip down the hallway to Joseph's room took a few seconds, but for Clarisse it lasted hours. Her exhaustion and eagerness to see him caused her impatience to go beyond words. If she could, she would have gotten up from the awful wheelchair and run. But her arm was broken – she had just noticed it – and her legs seemed unable to support her, not to mention the darned tubes on her sides. What were they for, anyway?

Charlotte stopped pushing the wheelchair and opened a door. Inside, Clarisse could see only the outline of a man's body lying on the bed, and hear the terrorizing yet soothing beep of the machines, the only thing assuring her the man wasn't dead. The curtains were closed, leaving the room in complete darkness, saving for the light coming from the hallway. Charlotte positioned the wheelchair beside the bed, and hesitated before asking if she should leave.

"When will he wake up?" ignoring the other woman's question, Clarisse found Joseph's hand under the cover, squeezing it tight.

"No one knows yet. He's been in a coma since the first surgery"

"Surgery?" Clarisse's voice dropped, and suddenly, it was too hard to breathe, once again.

"He had two. I don't understand much of medical language, but…" Charlotte trailed off, in a failed attempt to make a joke.

"There were consequences" It wasn't a question, nor it was a statement. It was merely the hope of being proved wrong.

"That's not certain, Your Majesty" said Charlotte, eager to comfort.

"No, it is not" Clarisse whispered, her mind elsewhere, her fingers gently caressing Joseph's "Charlotte, could you…?" she did not need to finish, for Charlotte was already closing the door behind her. The model of efficiency, Clarisse thought with a sad smile before turning her attention to Joseph's face. He looked so peaceful – like he was resting in the end of an extremely tiring and long day. He was pale, and if she had bothered to search, she would have found many scrapes and bruises along his body, especially his arms. But her stare was solely focused on his face, as if she could force him to open his eyes by looking at him only. She gripped his hand with a newfound strength and longed to rest by his side.

"Oh, Joseph" she voiced her worries "Do me the favour of waking up, will you? I miss you already"

She smiled, knowing he would have probably retorted with a witty comment. Choking back tears she hadn't noticed were waiting by the corner of her eyes, she added:

"When you wake up" she couldn't bare to say 'if' "When all this is over, it's going to be different for us. I will find a way"

She leaned forward to cup his face, a habit she had acquired over the last few years, and one she knew he adored. She remembered doctors usually said patients in coma could still hear what people said to them. Clarisse hoped he understood the implications of her promise and that it gave him strength to wake up as soon as possible. And hoping was all she could do for the time being.

_TBC_

_A.N.: Another one and I hope you enjoy the lack of Heather (which won't last long, by the way). Thank you to my lovely reviewers, (MaddieGaines, Clarisse Renaldi, VictoriaGr, Ursa, negschainsaw and_ _JulieFan35_ _), I really appreciate every single word you've written me. More to come soon! But please, tell me first if I should go on with it! _


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